Another Saturday Night

As we were getting ready to head out to dinner last Saturday night, I was stopped by this precious dog who wanted to know why we were going to leave her alone.  No, just kidding, that is not really what happened, but she did try to prevent me from getting ready to go out to dinner with Ryan.  I took a picture of her and then went about my business.

We decided to try a restaurant that was new to us.  We have wanted to try it for a while, but didn't have a chance yet.  Then someone recommended it to me, so we had to try it out.  Finding it was not as easy as we thought.  In fact, we were way off, and over by the beach, when this place is all the way at the other end of the marina, and then in the part that wraps back around the port area, so it looks back on the city from out in the water.

We finally found it, of course I did have to call.  This restaurant is called Porto Das Pipas. 

The downstairs is more of a snack bar.  I think for a snack bar, it looks really nice inside.

The bartender pointed us in the direction of the upstairs for a full dinner service.

Sorry for the blurry picture of the upstairs dining room, but I was trying to take it quickly since the staff was approaching us to take us to a table.

We took a small table next to the window.  It had a beautiful ocean view.

The meal started with fresh bread...

olives...

fresh goat cheese and pimento sauce...

and cheese cubes, along with herbed butter.

All the starters were delicious, and eaten pretty quickly while we enjoyed our wine and the view.

For dinner, Ryan ordered a steak with an herb sauce.

I ordered the taglietelle with shrimp.  I made sure to ask in advance if the were beheaded and the server said yes.  In fact, this server knows us pretty well, even though we have never eaten here before.  He was our regular server at another restaurant for a while.  So on this night, we when sat down and he realized who were were, he impressed us with his memory of our likes and dislikes.  He was so good that he did not bring any sausage to the table for a starter and when I ordered dinner he made a joke about me and codfish, since I once had a piece that was too chewy and I sent it back.  He also told me I would like this pasta dish and I took the suggestion because that was one of the dishes I had my eye on.

When it was brought to the table, he came up first and told me it was coming and I was going to laugh at the plate.  He was right.  Look at this...

The pasta was coated in garlic and had tons of shrimp inside.  They cooked the dish inside foil.  It really kept the flavor in.  It was very good, and I was impressed with how many shrimp I was served given the inexpensive price.  In the US, I would have gotten 5-7 shrimp in a dish that cost about $14.

We passed up dessert, but we did enjoy a coffee before the walk back to the car.

How cute is the little cinnamon stick?

We had a nice walk back over to the beach side.  The sky was so clear and the moon was shining off the ocean.  It was hard to really capture the scene, but trust me, it was breathtaking.

By the time we were almost back to the car, we were ready for our favorite dessert...soft serve at Copa Cabana.  Sorry, no pictures of the soft serve because it starts to melt before I can get a good picture.  So, I had Ryan take a picture of me instead.

While we were enjoying the evening outside, we noticed some live music down the street.  We decided to check it out and found this guy playing guitar and singing in a near by courtyard cafe.

I was amazed by how many people were out after 11 pm enjoying the music.  They do not go out to dinner until much later in Europe so it really should not have been such a surprise.

QUESTION:  What are you doing this Saturday night?

Since my sister is in town, we have a lot going on, and I am a little behind in my posts.  I do plan to share all of the fun details of her visit once things settle down around here.